Random Notes from a Crank

I'm going to have to update my "Death Wishes" post sometime because I recently told Mrs. Nasty that if I get killed by some kind of assault weapon and/or lack of background checks because of the intellectual buggery and the financial whoring of politicians by the NRA, I don't want any person who is a member of the NRA to attend my funeral. They are not invited. 

People tend to gloss past the first part of the Second Amendment: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of free state." The Bill of Rights was written in the 1790s when our leaders had extreme distrust of large, standing armies, and the nation relied on ad hoc militias for military missions. For example, Andrew Jackson used a militia, not the army, when he killed all kinds of Native Americans during the War of 1812. And one of the reasons the US mainly got its butt kicked in that war was because of the nations reliance on militias. 

We have a large standing armed forces now. If a person wants to use weapons of war such assault rifles and automatic guns, that person needs to join the military. 

Then again, the most deaths by guns are because of handguns. 

Here's some interesting factoids from March's "Harper's Index"

• Hours last year for which Germans were paid to use power because supply outstripped demand: 331
• Percentage of US news stories about poverty that feature black families: 59
• Of US families living under the poverty line that are black: 23
• Number of write-in votes for University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban in the state's November special election: 414
• Estimated number of US private schools receiving public funding that teach Christian curriculum: 5,071
• That teach an Islamic curriculum: 70
• That teach a curriculum inspired by L. Ron Hubbard: 5

Clearly we need to fight harder for the separation of church and state. Those last three figures are bullshit. I don't want my tax dollars paying for that curricular nonsense.